Handle coupling



May 15, 1962 N. B. MCCORMICK ETAL 3,034,315

HANDLE COUPLING Filed March 27, 1959 flEiN T United States Patent Oil 3,934,315 Patented May 15, 1362 3,034,815 HANDLE COUPLING Nelle B. McCormick and Norman W. Barmeicr, St. Helens, Oreg., assignors to St. Helens Wood Products Company, St. Helens, Oreg., a corporation of Oregon Filed Mar. 27, 1959, Ser. No. 802,3Sl6 2 Claims. (Cl. 287-104) This invention relates generally to wooden handles for push brooms or mops and more particularly to a handle made of two half lengths sections coupled together to make a complete handle.

For many reasons including cost, custom, poor heat conductivity, light weight, feel, etc.. the great majority of broom and mop handles are made of wood and are equally acceptable in the trade when made either of hardwood or semi-hard wood. However, clear, straight pieces of wood suitable for making handles therefrom are getting more and more expensive and less readily available.

For this reason more and more effort is being put to the discovery of ways and means satisfactorily to make full length handles from shorter pieces of wood.

It is a principal object of this invention to provide a method and means for adapting for assembly and assembling two half-length sections of wood handle material into a completely assembled low cost wood handle for a push broom or mop.

It is a second object to provide a completely satisfactory low cost coupling for assembling a pair of half-length sections of wood handle into a full length handle.

It is a third object to provide an improved wood handle for a mop or a push broom which improved handle consists of a pair of half-length wood handle sections together with a plastic coupling for reinforcing the joint between the wood sections.

It is a fourth object to disclose a plurality of joint designs for the mating ends of the two half sections of a wood handle and a plurality of coupling designs best adapted respectively to be used with the plurality of joint designs.

How these and other objects are attained is disclosed in the following specifications referring to the attached drawing in which FIG. 1 shows an exterior view in side elevation of the adjacent fragmental ends of a pair of half length wood handle sections securely joined together with one of the plastic couplings of this invention to provide one of the improved handles of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmental view in side sectional elevation of one form of the coupling of this invention applied to a mating pair of adjacent handle section ends with which the particular coupling form is adapted to be used.

FIG. 3 is a section viewed along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2.v

FIG. 4 is -a fragmental view in side sectional elevation of the coupling of FIG. 2 applied to a different mating pair of adjacent handle section ends with which the same coupling form is adapted to be used.

FIG. 5 is a section viewed along the line 5-'5 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a fnagmental view in side sectional elevation of a second form of the coupling of this invention applied to a mating pair of adjacent handle section ends to which the particular coupling form is adapted to be applied.

FIG. 7 is a section viewed along the line 7-7 of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a fragmental view in side sectional elevation of a third form of the coupling of this invention showing how a mating pair of adjacent handle section ends can best be coupled by this specific coupling.

FIG. 9 is a view in section along the line 99 of FIG. 8.

Like reference numerals refer to like parts in the several figures of the drawing.

Referring now to the drawing in FIG. 1 there is shown,

in side elevation, adjacent end fragments of a pair of half lengths 10 and 11 of a full length wood handle for a mop or a push broom made by coupling the half lengths, 10, 11, together with a plastic coupling sleeve 12.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show specific forms of half length handles, 10a, 11a, and sleeve, 12a, with which one form of a complete handle of this invention is made. The end of half length round wood handle, 10a, is shown to be )notched along the lines 13 for about the length of coupling 12a and inserted into the smoothly cylindrical interior surface of sleeve 12a the full length thereof, after which the chisel pointed end of half length round wood handle, 11a, is inserted into the other end of sleeve 12a to engage half handle 10a along the surfaces 13.

Handles of the types shown here have been successfully made and used in which the round wood handle parts have been close to seven eighths of an inch in diameter. The length of the coupling sleeve is about three and one half inches and the inside diameter of the sleeve is about four mils larger than the diameter of the round wood handle parts. The outer diameter of the sleeve is greatest at its mid-length and converges towards its respective ends. The sleeve wall is about thirteen mils thick at its mid-length and about six mils thick at its ends.

The sleeve is molded of a high strength plastic material. Good results have been secured by using a high impact styrene plastic such as High Test 88 of the Monsanto Chemical Company. The adhesive used with this material to secure the sleeve to the wood handle parts and to secure the wood handle parts together is made up of a solvent, like benzene, for the plastic into which a small amount of the plastic is dissolved. v

In the above described assembly of the parts of FIGS. 2 and 3 the forked end of part 10a was dipped into the solvent for the length of the sleeve then pushed into the sleeve. Then the chisel end of part 11a was dipped into the solvent for the length of the sleeve and then firmly engaged through the other end of the sleeve with the sleeve and part ltla along the lines 13. Parts 10a, 11a and 12a quickly are found to be firmly and permanently secured together. Rather than interfering with the use of the handle the plastic sleeve becomes a useful hand grip aiding in the use of the broom or mop to which the handle is applied.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show at the mating ends of half length wood handle parts 10b and 11b another form of handle structure in which the sleeve 12a is conveniently used. In this specific form of this invention it is seen that the end of wood handle part 10b is formed with an axial hole sunk therein having a conical surface 14, opening outwardly at the end of part 1012 with a smooth bell end 15. The end of wood handle part 11b is formed as shown to be inserted into the end of part 10b to mate therewith along the surfaces 14 and 15.

In this case the end of part 10b would be dipped in adhesive liquid and pushed into the full length of sleeve 12a which then would become a strengthening ferrule for "part 10b. Next the reduced diameter end of part 11b would be dipped into the adhesive liquid and firmly pushed into the end of part 10b to seat firmly therein along the surfaces 14 and 15.

A preferred form of the complete handle of this invention is fragmentally shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 in which the mating ends of the two wood handle parts and are identically ended along a plane oval surface 16 at a large angle to the plane 77. This is the simplest form with which to terminate the parts We and 11c and to use the sleeve to give the greatest strength to the union of parts 100, 11c, and 12c. It is desirable that part 120 will give a maximum of radial support to parts 100 and He at and near the section 77. For this reason, for

about one fourth inch on either side of section 77 the inner surface of sleeve 120 is interrupted for an appreciable distance longitudinally thereof to form an inwardly extending annular band 17 about four rnils thick. In this case when the sloping ends of parts 100 and 110 are dipped into the liquid adhesive and pressed endwise together from either end into sleeve 120, parts 10c and 110 will slide endwise towards each other along their surfaces 16 and exert radially on annular band 17 a pressure several times as great as the endwise assembly pressure exerted on parts 100 and 110. Although the outward radial pressure will finally be exerted by parts 100 and 110 on the entire inner surface of sleeve 12c, the greatest support area of sleeve 12 for the mating ends of parts 100 and 11c will come at band 17.

FIGS. 8 and 9 show a variation 12b of the sleeve 12c which is desirable to be used where it is desired to secure the sleeve 12b to the wood handle part 110 at the factory and to secure the wood handle part 100 to parts 110 and 12b at the time the handle is to be put into use. In the case of sleeve form 12b the band 17b is seen to be formed on the inner surface of sleeve 12b only upwardly of the surface 16.

To assemble the part 110 into sleeve 12b, the end of part lie for the length of surface 16 is inserted from the proper end into sleeve 12!; until the sharp outer edges of surface 16 of part 110 engage under the ends of half band 17b along the surfaces 1617. Later when it is desired to complete the handle the mating end of handle part 10c will be dipped into the adhesive liquid and then pushed firmly into the vacant part of the interior of sleeve 12b to slide along the surface 16 and finally come to rest secured between part 11-0 at surface 16 and the curved interior of sleeve 12b with the greatest support of sleeve 12b on part 100 being given under part band 17b.

Having recited some of the objects of our invention, illustrated and described several forms in which our invention can be practiced and explained the operations thereof, we claim 1. A coupling section including the adjacent coaxial overlapping similar ends of a pair of substantially rigid round wooden bars formed within said section to be substantially uniform in outer surface and divided one from the other for the approximate length of said coupling section along a plane oval surface at a large angle to a plane normal to the axis of said section, together with a one piece continuous coupling tube secured over the outer cylindrical surfaces of said ends of said bars at said coupling section, the inner surface of said coupling tube at said coupling section including means formed thereon to engage said outer cylindrical surfaces of said ends of said bars when said oval surface of said rods are engaged one on the other to prevent either of said rods from turning in said tube.

2. A handle coupling for coupling a sectional wooden handle for a mop or broom, said handle including alining sections having lapping abutting ends bevelled to provide opposed wedges each having a flat face contacting with the fiat face of the opposed wedge and said coupling comprising a high impact strength molded plastic sleeve surrounding the lapping ends of said Wooden handle sections, said coupling being formed to be conically increasing in outside diameter from near either its ends to its center cross section, said coupling being formed with a uniform bore adapted to receive through its ends the lapping ends of said wood handle sections and said bore of said plastic coupling being interrupted for an appreciable distance longitudinally thereof to a smaller diameter to engage the surface of said alining wooden section with the interruption in the inner surface of said bore when said alining sections are longitudinally shifted to subject said sleeve to outward pressure thereby to restrain said ends against movement one from the other without perforating the wall of said plastic coupling.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 284,939 Bain Sept. 11, 1883 1,194,894 Standefer Aug. 15, 1916 1,263,050 Fargo Apr. 16, 1918 1,446,144 Adams Feb. 20, 1923 1,467,115 R auhoff Sept. 4, 1923 1,870,976 Welch Aug. 9, 1932 1,972,653 Hart Sept. 1934 2,062,986 Baxter Dec. 1, 1936 2,167,865 Beecher Aug. 1, 1939 2,379,990 Rember-t July 10, 1945 2,468,985 Krotz May 3, 1949 2,490,316 Ostrak Dec. 6, 1949 2,498,831 Veitch Feb. 28, 1950 2,763,506 Denker et al. Sept. 18, 1956 2,832,816 Curtiss Apr. 29, 1958 2,849,741 Hardman et a1. Sept. 2, 1958 2,854,684 Hardman et a1. Oct. 7, 1958 

